


I'll Make a Team Out of You

by Jesters_of_the_Moon, TooCreative4Life



Category: Mulan (1998), Young Justice, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Start, And Now For Something Completely Different, Batman is prepared, Beginnings, Bows & Arrows, Communication Failure, Crime Fighting, Cute, Disappointment, Disney Movies, Disney References, Dysfunctional Family, Fist Fights, Fitting In, Funny, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Happy Ending, If you only read one work by me, Inspired by a Movie, Missions Gone Wrong, Problems, Read, Secret Identity, Smile, Smiles, Snark, Songfic, Spitfire - Freeform, Strained Relationships, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team Feels, Team Fluff, Team as Family, Teambuilding, Teamwork, Training, Trust Issues, Wally lives, Worth It, learning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-10 00:45:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2004369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jesters_of_the_Moon/pseuds/Jesters_of_the_Moon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooCreative4Life/pseuds/TooCreative4Life
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Team didn't always work very well together, in fact they even hated each other at the start. Artemis couldn't get anyone to like her, Wally and Rob were the only two that could really stand each other, Kaldur was annoyed as he was the oldest there and Conner just couldn't put up with M'gann. </p><p>How will the League make these six super-idiots come together as a team?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Make a Team Out of You

**Author's Note:**

> This is what Jesters and I call a Disney-fic. It's inspired by one of the greatest inspirational Disney songs, Make a Man out of You. 
> 
> Please enjoy our take on this cute song and mixing it with our favorite team of teen heroes.

Boots shuffled almost noiselessly on the floor, though in the taut silence hanging around the muffled noises seemed loud as elephants. Six pairs of eyes shifted over the room, resting for seconds at a time on another figure in the room. She chose not to stand with the group and she guessed by the way the majority of her teammates were turning their backs to her and whispering they did not want much to do with her, but neither were they all too friendly with each other. 

 

The tallest boy with black hair, Superboy, stood off a little ways from Robin and Kid Flash who chattered quietly. Next Artemis picked out the green skinned girl who was attempting to talk with a dark skinned boy with blonde hair and gills, though neither were able to converse for more than four sentences at a time, either getting distracted or not understanding the other. Eventually the martian stepped away from the group, standing similarly to how Superboy was, apart but not. _Too bad it's team-training day._ The green archer grumbled, plucking the string of her bow once. All heads turned her direction; well, all heads but one pale blonde one, though it could have been he was meditating or ignoring everyone around him. It was hard to tell.

 

A deep sigh echoed after all heads had turned away, taking the always-judging gazes with them. Dark steel grey eyes closed slowly as tanned arms wrapped tightly around their own middle, attempting the same comforting self-hug she had taught herself as a child. She had thought when Green Arrow and Batman approached her a month ago on that rooftop that her life would change; that somehow she would magically be able to make her life the picture she had had of it as a nine-year-old. A gruff huff sounded from Artemis, commanding attention of the others, seconds before the door whooshed open and in walked their teacher. The gentle, near imperceptible clacking of heels was almost all Artemis needed to know who was coming in. Though it did help that the teen heroes had been notified who was teaching the class, so she knew what to listen for before she even heard the rough, melodic tone belonging to the screeching heroine of the Justice League.

 

"Good morning, Team. Sorry I'm late. There were... Complications on my end." She said, pausing as if to choose her words with caution. 

 

The blonde girl turned to look at her teacher, uncrossing her arms and standing at a ready position; ready to fight, to flee, to duck, to do anything asked by movements or language. If any of the heroes across the room noticed the stiffness in her arms, the barely-there hitches in her breathing, or sudden lack of expression on her face they did not make any sign they did. The thought lingered in her mind for several seconds before being pushed away as Canary's lips started moving again.

 

"Today will be a basic assessment of how well the Team is working together. The Lanterns, Superman and Flash finished setting up the upgraded training room, so we'll be giving it the inaugural run today."

 

Artemis felt the Leaguer’s intimidating blue gaze sweep over her. The teen raised her steel-grey’s to see the elder hero looking disappointedly at the group of five. In a quick movement, blonde hair swooshing, Black Canary turned and the clicking of her heels echoed in the room and then the hall way. All the young heroes fell into line as they walked through the door, the five talking amongst themselves as Artemis walked behind, alone. 

 

She did not mind being alone, that was how she had grown up; in a criminal-kill-criminal world there was very little room for making friends and getting close. Though some part of her had hoped that by listening to Batman and accepting Green Arrow’s offer of becoming his protege and joining this “team” that she would stop having to be alone, that she would find a place to call home with actual friends. Too bad the good old Crock family luck was following her everywhere she went. She apparently looked suspicious enough that even the goody-two-shoes heroes did not even want to trust her. 

 

Another gruff sigh echoed from her as she walked into a dark room. She watched as the “team” lined up, so she did the same; though careful to keep a distance in case any of the members decided to give Artemis a hard time or the stink-eye treatment. A clear half-cough snapped all attention to Black Canary, who was standing in the center of the new holographic training simulator with an almost stoic expression. Her hands were laced loosely together in front of her before she began speaking again. 

 

“Today is all about team work and building a team out of individuals. Yes, some of you have already fought beside each other; but some members here are new to this planet and this team. So, we’ll be starting from the basics.” She paused, taking a controller out of her jacket pocket and pressing a red button. 

 

In the blink of an eye the world around the heroes changed from the metal dome of the Simulator to an empty street in a city. Artemis took in her surroundings quickly, identifying the city as her home thanks to the dingy sky and familiar patterns of glass skyscrapers. Her attention was brought back to Canary as the hero cleared her throat again.  
  
“This simulation will test you all as individuals and as teammates by throwing everything it has at you. The goal: everyone survive for three minutes.”  
  
The team watched Canary press another button on her remote before the once-dark city lit up, both with the  sounds of sirens and lights appearing out of nowhere. Artemis looked for Canary, unable to find her the archer drew her bow and dropped into an instinctive defensive crouch. She cast quick glances at the rest of the young heroes, watching them settle into similar defense stances and drawing their own weapons. 

 

A buzzing filled the air followed by a familiar rough, melodic voice, “Be warned, no one but the Team can be trusted. You will have to use each other to survive if you want to succeed this exercise. Proceed with caution and act as a team, not as individuals.” 

 

The six teens glanced at each other, only four seeming to trust each other as they did. 

 

The blasting noises suddenly stopped, replaced with tense silence.

 

“Be ready," the Atlantean said.

 

Artemis rolled her eyes pulling her elbow closer to her cheek before chuckling and saying, "Yeah, like we need you to tell us that fish-head."

 

The dark-skinned blonde opened his mouth to reply, though he was cut off as the loud screech of metal on metal echoed in the city. The air remained tense and almost silent, just as the chilling breeze around them blew to life. The thrumming pound of a metal march advanced on the heroes. Lights grew brighter as they approached through the sudden onslaught of fog and icy rain. 

 

Artemis kept her eyes on the approaching targets, letting the single arrow she had drawn fly before reaching back and grabbing four more that she let loose in the same breath with infallible aim. Or near infallible if you had to add in the human error factor of having teammates, which she didn't.

 

The green archer watched as not one, not two, but three of her arrows nearly impaled the colorful acrobat swinging down in front of the bots. Why was he zipping in front of them? Didn't he see the points on the arrows? She watched, grey eyes wide in panic, though if any asked she would say in surprise, as Kid Flash managed to speed past all the arrows and grab the caped protege before any of the pointed projectiles hit him. 

 

The surprised fear was replaced with stubborn anger as Artemis heard the red-head shout, "And Green Arrow thought you were a better protege than Speedy, how?".

 

Red sizzled to life in Artemis's vision. The teen had to repeatedly tell herself to shoot the bots and not the speedster as she continued to fire off arrows, making sure they were only at bots within range of attacking distance to her so as not to risk any further interceptions. She almost started cracking up when she watched Kid trip over a downed bot, sending Robin flying. Lucky for the colorful protege that he was an acrobat and managed to save his face before colliding with the pavement. Kid Flash was not so lucky, falling onto the asphalt and skidding down in a little ways. Laughter began creeping up her throat before the archer spotted a bot speeding towards the downed speedster. With a volley of accurate arrows the robot was lying on the ground, dead and Artemis could not resist returning the jibe as she walked over to Kid.

 

"And the Flash thought you were a good speedster protege how?"

 

Before Kid could respond the ground next to him and Artemis exploded, sending both them and chunks of heated asphalt flying. They both landed heavily on the ground, coughing and spluttering as they regained their bearings. Artemis opened her eyes blinking a few times to clear the blurry image of red in front of her. She almost shrieked when she realized that it was not blood in her eyes but a messy mop of flame-like red hair. She quickly pushed off the yellow-clad speedster before standing. The red-headed boy was just as quick getting up and brushing off the rubble and dust, as well as the Artemis-cooties. They groaned in unison as Robin bounced over, wearing that annoying smirk that told everyone that he was just enjoying the work, not finding it challenging in the least. He skidded to a halt beside the archer and speedster, a cackle coming to an end as well. 

 

"If you two are done with your married-couple squabbles we could use some actual team work." Robin said, half-glaring at them. 

"Tell that to Kid Clutz," Artemis huffed, walking to pick up her bow laying a few feet away. 

"Not like you're all perfect little miss spot-stealer." 

"At least I don't try to save teammates and almost end up hurting them worse then they were going to be."

"No, you just almost kill one of them and don't say anything." Artemis flinched inwardly at the words but only steeled her outwards expression more. 

"I didn't mean to. Not like I can predict what the little sprite is going to do!" She growled, her voice rough and fierce.

"This is supposed to be a team, that's what you're supposed to do!"

 

She and the speedster were standing inches away, their faces not even one apart as they glowered at one another. Her eyes were a fierce stormy grey, projecting what you would see from the worst clouds through her fury, and locked in a furious battle with livid virescent orbs. Their fists were clenched, just as were their jaws. The tension between them was palpable. Only one person would dare step between them, or try to; and he did. A small black gloved hand waved between both of their faces as a low, "Guys?" rung in the air.

 

"What?!" The two snarled as their attentions, and murderous glares, were directed on Robin.

"Maybe, we should stop fighting about being a team and start helping the team." 

 

A quick glance was exchanged as a fragile, temporary peace was made. Grey and green gazes returned to Robin who was now pointing at the mess their "teammates" were making. Pieces of asphalt were levitating in the air before flying at the bots, bouncing off and almost hitting one of the other fighting teens; though not that it would matter if the rock hit Superboy, the boy seemed in such a furious state a rhino could have rammed him and the kryptonian clone would not have noticed.

 

The three heroes attention's were drawn from the rampaging Superboy to Aqualad by his flashing water-bearers, slicing robots to pieces by whipping through the air. Sometimes the glowing blue tendrils or hammers would miss Miss Martian or Superboy by mere inches and sometimes they would sweep the martian and kryptonian off of their feet and into more bots. 

 

Artemis saw a bot approaching the downed pair and immediately pulled an arrow from her quiver, pulling back her bow-string and letting it fly, straight towards the robot's head. As she watched the arrow take flight with a smile, that confident expression of her's melted once again into panic as she watched Aqualad step right into the projectile's path of travel. She could only stand horrified as she watched her arrow bury itself into Aqualad's shoulder. The dark-skinned Atlantean let out a cry of pain, dropping his water-bearers and reaching to clutch his shoulder. The other heroes remained immobile for a single second before tearing off and circling around their wounded friend; all except Artemis who stayed where she was, frozen in horror with herself. 

 

As the team were prepared to fight the simulated world around them faded, turning back into the dome that was the Simulator. All the teens relaxed a bit and turned to look at the Atlantean, who was kneeling on the ground and had his hand clasped so tightly around the injured shoulder that his knuckles were turning white.

 

Superboy and the martian were crouching next to the older boy, asking him pointlessly if he was okay; how could someone be okay with an arrow sticking out of their shoulder? Artemis mused to herself as she mentally retreated to somewhere safe where she would not make mistakes. But before she was safely tucked away and all vulnerabilities hidden a yellow blur sped towards her, throwing a dangerously hard punch in her gut. The surprise of the hit knocked the archer backwards, but not over. She lifted her eyes to meet the smoldering green ones boring into her. The fear and panic that was swimming in her grey eyes was banished as quick as she could before being covered with cool non-chalantness to aid her in working up a stoic facade. As her walls went up she saw the anger boiling in Kid's eyes heat up as well. He lashed another hand out at her, narrowly missing her as she ducked to the side and that was mostly due to his anger giving away intentions. 

 

"What is wrong with you? Are you trying to get the people here killed? First Robin and now Kaldur? Who's next on your 'hit and injure' list? Miss M? Me? You got a kryptonite tipped arrow in that quiver of yours for Supey over there?" Kid growled, his arms waving madly and face contorting to match the anger in his eyes.

 

Artemis felt her knees want to give in under her as the speedster continued to hurl questions he never expected answers to at her, hitting her in a place where it hurt. But pride demanded she remain strong.

 

Her eyes let a bit of the fire building within her spark before she heard the final insult she would allow.

 

"One would think that you're in league with the Shadows. Who's your real mentor? Black Spider? The Count? No, you look like you'd be more Sportmaster's type of apprentice."

 

A green gloved hand shot out of nowhere and nailed Kid right in the jaw. She watched him stumble back before going at him again, throwing left and right hooks, making him step back to just barely avoid the punches. In a sudden shift from punch to kick, Artemis swung her leg around her; kicking Kid Flash to the ground. She stepped over to where he lay flat on the ground. She kneeled down, one padded knee right in the center of his chest and one hand grabbing a fistful of his hair as she tilted his head back to look him in the eye.

 

Her face was just as angry as his had been seconds ago, though with a more murderous streak in it. Her eyes were like molten steel swirling, dangerous and volatile as she ground out, "I am nothing like him."

 

With that she got to her feet and began walking away. She grabbed her discarded bow before storming out of the Simulator, her steps quick and heavy as she walked. She passed Canary and did not care that training was not over. If she was forced within five feet of anyone in that room for the rest of the day she was bound to break hero code rule number one; though was it truly breaking it if Kid Mouth had provoked her? Didn’t that make him no longer innocent?

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The League was sitting in their conference room, voices twining together as different groups conversed while awaiting Batman’s appearance. Green Arrow and Flash were having the loudest discussions, though it was warranted. 

 

“Why would she do something like that?” Barry half-roared, glaring holes through Oliver.

The green clad archer shrugged his shoulder, ”I don't know. Probably something to do with her past."

“Don’t you think you should to talk with her, GA? Most people don’t consider punching a teammates lights out appropriate team behavior.” Barry stopped, looking at his friend with a tinge of annoyance in his expression.

Green Arrow was about to answer when Canary stepped between the two, sighing as she diverted the fight that was likely to happen, ”She's adjusting, Barry. Everyone needs time to find their place on the team.”

"It's like when Batman started the League; no one knew how to work together or admit they needed help. Apparently, no one managed to train their protege’s any differently,” Diana said, rolling her eyes as she sat at the table. 

“It’s not like we ever had a reason to, we never intended for them to form their own team,” Oliver groaned. “Speedy didn’t even want to interact with them.”

“None of you did, you mean.” Everyone in the room stopped and looked at the doorway and the black figure standing in it. He walked forward, approaching the table, “Robin was trained with Kid Flash before the team started, as far I was concerned, he was being trained in preparation for the League. Though, there was not much I could do when most of you did not want your protege’s to associate with anyone else.”

Barry zipped over to Batman, standing in front of the non-meta. “What’d you mean Kid was training with Robin? He never was with your kid if we weren’t on missions.”

“That’s my point. You were the only mentor who took along your charge on tandem operations.” Batman sat down, crossing his hands as he looked around.

 

Quiet murmurings had started up again, and continued to grow until Oliver stepped forward. Everyone listened as the archer spoke, “You expected us to bring along mostly untrained kids on high level missions?”

“Yes,” Batman didn’t even blink as he answered. 

"They're not part of  the League. They aren't even full superheroes; they’re side-kicks, trainees to the gig.”

"And?"

"And trainees aren’t ready to be in the field, it’s dangerous for them and everyone else.”

Batman sighed, more like groaned but he refused to let that much emotion slip out. He looked at Green Arrow, face stern and almost glaring. “They’ll need help until they realize that they do, and by then they won't need it. When the time comes and they understand that, they'll all be ready. But we can’t make them ready if we don’t give them the opportunities.”

"Then they've got a long way to go,” Diana chuckled in the background.


End file.
